Love this video, Taiwan has always been a fascinating country, particular considering its sorta just…acceptance of the end of dictatorship

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Glad you liked it :)

@2k2k2k8

Жыл бұрын

I hope the Republic of China(=taiwan) government will recapture the mainland china and unify it again. It is too bad that the territory of the liberal and powerful democratic government of the Republic of China is such a small island. If China were a democratic government, it would not have fought the United States like this now.

@martinfiedler4317

Жыл бұрын

2:36 claiming that the communists worked with the KMT to fend off the Japanese invasion is rather bold. Looks more like the CPC did virtually nothing to fight the Japanese, while the KMT took the brunt of Japanese attacks. What the CPC did, was taking territory in the North in '45 after it was emptied by the Japanese after they had nearly crushed the KMT in the south the previous year. You think that counts as "cooperation"?

@naberville3305

Жыл бұрын

​@@2k2k2k8 the population of china have a much stronger approval rating of their government than almost any country on earth. Simple reality is that there isnt such a thing as democracy under capitalism. Even if you have the ability to vote. Your interests are constantly being subverted by the influence of capital. Still a dictatorship. Just a class dictatorship

@huaplays6

10 ай бұрын

​@@2k2k2k8 The Mainland _is_ democratic. It's the United States being the aggressor wtf.

what a fascinating look at how Democracy came about in Taiwan! The thing that stood out most to me is the rise of the middle class's role in it. Could this be a lesson in how the erosion of a middle class could result in the loss of Democracy? I'm so glad I discovered your channel. I've been watching your videos for a few weeks now and it is amazing using the view of Liberal Democracy to examine geopolitics. Keep doing what you are doing. There is no channel like this. Whether it be topic and or production value! I can hardly believe you are under 50k subs.

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Wow, what amazingly kind words. Thank you so much. So glad you appreciate the democracy angle, and so glad to have you along!!

@2k2k2k8

Жыл бұрын

I hope the Republic of China(=taiwan) government will recapture the mainland china and unify it again. It is too bad that the territory of the liberal and powerful democratic government of the Republic of China is such a small island. If China were a democratic government, it would not have fought the United States like this now.

@barmybarmecide5390

Жыл бұрын

@@badofi liberal and neoliberal economics is what lead to the expansion of the middle class and growth of prosperity across the developed and developing world, and neoliberal politics is what prevents populists eroding our civil rights like in Poland and Hungary

@therewarden9759

10 ай бұрын

​@@2k2k2k8I think personally, taiwan can never recapturebthe mainland. But, we can always support this new thriving democracy. Dont lose hope because they cant recapture the mainland, understand how bad the PRC killed modern china and how taiwan reinvent itself into a thriving democracy.

@lagrangewei

9 ай бұрын

liberal democracy is poison. just look at the riot in france, and the insurrection in US. when you tell the people they can believe in whatever they want, truth no longer matter, people don't care if Trump lose fair and sqaure, they will believe very emotionally and strongly believe that the election is stolen, you can't reason with that and all you are left with is chaos. the failure of liberal democracy to have the gut to face up that it is flawed and is danger will lead to it collapse. people who think CPC is doing a bad job in China really need to wake up. no country that is doing a "bad job" will see 100 of million of it citizen going overseas on vacation, and returning to the country at the end of their vacation. the west need to owe up to that fact that it ideolgical believes is not only wrong, it is dangerous. because this democracy narrative is undermining real good administration. which depend not on the number of votes, but the level of organisation. the failure to treat government as an administrative problem but to treat it as a political problem would lead to the regression of countries as politician blame each other than to organise around solving problems. if you want to protect "democracy" then you should start focusing on governance, not idealogy. idealogy cannot feed the people. what most people fail to realise is the reason CPC won the civil war on the mainland is simply because they could feed more people than KMT could, and why couldn't KMT? because the western government force KMT government to repay their WWII war debt, leading to hyperinflation, the salary given by KMT to it soldier can't even buy a loaf of bread, which is why over a million soldier deflected to CPC and CPC turn from being outnumbered 4 to 1 to overwhleming KMT 2 to 1. this is a very important lesson I hope you can all listen to, because it will have great impact on one country soon: Ukraine. DO NOT ALLOW YOUR WESTERN GOVERNMENT TO DRIVE UKRAINE TO BANKRUPTCY AFTER THE WAR. do not allow western government to repo Ukrainian asset after the war, because if you do that, the Ukrainian ppl will revolt like they did in China. don't fail and understand what really wins people over is their ability to survive... if your system end up becoming their doom, you force them to reject you. that's the hard truth. I pray for the Ukrainian people because I know, their greatest suffering won't end with the war, it going to get worst for them because of the economic structure of the west is exploitive... and that is so UNFAIR to them!

Taiwanese here. First of all, tremendous video here. Salutations to the effort and talent shown in this video. I would like to add some points for people interested to look into further. 1. It is controversial in Taiwan to call 蔣經國 Mr. democracy for good reasons. Especially when one considers the role of US intelligence among the KMT elites. 2. Another perspective of democratization is that of ethical politics. It was the Taiwanese elites and populace who kept putting pressure on the ruling elite, which in turn gave 蔣經國 the idea that KMT would not survive without opening up the political opportunity structure. 3. Following up on point 2, more emphasis should be put on the role of 李登輝 and Taiwanese KMT elites. Cheers!

@thomasbarca9297

9 ай бұрын

I feel this is what China could of been if the KMT continued running the mainland. But I feel Taiwan needs to become independent though

@diegobrianlin5597

9 ай бұрын

@@thomasbarca9297 well 蔣經國 is definitely different from his father’s generation (warlords who believes in violence and totality) and has true experiences from somewhere none China. He might not make the same answer to the question of how to modernize China but this doesn’t guarantee his answer would be a democratic or liberal one. Then again, this relative sophisticated and “softness” might even bring his doom easier were KMT maintained control of China.

@diegobrianlin5597

9 ай бұрын

@@thomasbarca9297 and yeah that’s where one realizes the story of KMT or the story of modern China really means very little for Taiwanese people. We just want to be left alone and live with dignity.

@janusjones6519

9 ай бұрын

@@thomasbarca9297 unlikely. the kmt on the mainland were hugely corrupt to the point that the US more or less lost faith and did little to stop the communist. China would have become something similar to the korean and vietnam war if kmt remained, only ten times more devastating due to the size of the country.

@GIN.356.A

9 ай бұрын

​​@@diegobrianlin5597lee Tung Hui, or Iwasato masao, identifies more as a Japanese 😂😂😂 guy was a total clown and a Japanese right-wing shill

I am not a historian, but I think some historical facts are missing, which might not support your conclusion. 1.) With all the martial law one could argue that Taiwan was de facto a authoritarian dictatorship, but there still were fake elections. So people in Taiwan were used to the process and it was still a matter of time that people would demand that their real votes would be counted and not the separately prepared fake ones. 2) The KMT came over with 1 mio people from the Chinese mainland when they retreated to Taiwan and put them all into government, but the system wasn’t sustainable at all. When they got older they had to dig into the local talent pool. Representatives from the Chinese provinces got old and died away, but the provinces weren’t able to re-elect new ones for obvious reasons. During the reign of Chiang Chingkuo, the majority of mid-level army leadership was Taiwan-born, so there was no way the old ruling class could maintain their power much longer. 3) The role of the Taiwanese population is downplayed. Protests were huge and the Taiwanese know how to protest, how to get support in a conservative society and how to form concrete demands. Many already had a test run in the 60s when the student protests in Taiwan were facing the harsh reality by just being invited into parliament and confronted with every boring detail of politics. (That was the way Taiwan suppressed the student movement in the 60s, by inviting them and confronting them with the reality of being a small country squeezed in between big powers. )

@taskdon769

9 ай бұрын

Sadly, some power players without military influences decided to weaponize "democracy" to take over the control. However due to the initial manipulation of "democracy: the game" at early stage which turned Taiwan into a democratic clown show today. It was "outsiders" vs " domestics", then it was "Chinese heritage vs Japanese overlord", then it is "anti-China" vs "pro-China".

@longiusaescius2537

9 ай бұрын

Exactly

@vashkin7457

9 ай бұрын

"by just being invited into parliament and confronted with every boring detail of politics" damn i feel that

@Scribemo

9 ай бұрын

Most of this is covered. Only the student protests was indirectly explained: middle class plus easily squashed resistance.

@chieftanke

9 ай бұрын

What you said is so true. Chiang's regime also face issue of legitimacy, their government was founded on democratic principles back on the mainland. While Chiang put the 1 million mainlanders into government and rule Taiwan by iron fist, Chiang Khai Shek always legitimise it by saying this is necessary until they "re-conquer mainland". By 70s 80s it is clear there won't be a return to Nanking, their autocracy by then is unpopular with Taiwanese and second generation mainlander, the rest is history.

Back then, Chiang Ching-Kuo's KMT wanted to become Lee Kuan-Yew's PAP in Singapore. In other words, Chiang's KMT intended to mold Taiwan into a "smart dictatorship" similar to Singapore, where there's a democratic system but the PAP rules forever. KMT was so confident, that they thought KMT could rule indefinitely too, much like the PAP does.

@carlrodalegrado4104

9 ай бұрын

Do you think the CCP also tried Lee Kuan-Yew's PAP Singapore model what is your opinion on their performance?

@nntflow7058

9 ай бұрын

@@carlrodalegrado4104 CCP can't copy Lee Kuan-Yew's because Singapore is a tiny country.

@carlrodalegrado4104

9 ай бұрын

@@nntflow7058 well at least they were inspired by it

@ironheart5830

9 ай бұрын

@@carlrodalegrado4104 They do have some influence from Lee Kwan Yew.

@SuperValue350

9 ай бұрын

Now KMT is in opposition while the PAP is still in power.

One thing to note is the KMT during this period of democratization was far from unified or stable. Ching Kuo himself passed away and designated Teng Hui as his successor. Teng Hui himself certainly had no strong attachments to the party and even broke from it after the end of his presidency. Teng Hui during democratization had to constantly contend with anti-democratic elements within the party.

@Mainyehc

9 ай бұрын

Your description reminds me a lot of the Spanish transition, and how both now King Emeritus Juan Carlos and Adolfo Suárez had to contend with the “old guard” and reactionary coup attempts, even with Franco buried and far along his decomposition process. Heck, the whole description of Taiwan’s transition reminds me of the Spanish one. For context, we the Portuguese are very interested in all of that, because we also got rid of a nearly 50-year-long dictatorship through an unusual process, a relatively bloodless military coup (there were civilian casualties, five people killed at the hands of cornered political policemen right in front of their HQ, which was under siege). Interestingly, General Spínola, the provisional leader designated - at gunpoint, but still, he effectively had a say in the matter - by the surrendering President of the Council (for all intents and purposes, the dictator), was an apparatchik (a very vocal one, having published a book advocating for federalization of the sprawling colonial empire just a month before, but absolutely a member of the defunct regime’s intelligentsia, having been the Governor of Portuguese Guinea until the preceding year). In our case, public pressure got the best of that provisional government (a military junta that had right below said leader a collection of factions, from the ranks of all the pro-democracy and communist captains that had just staged said coup), quickly forcing in a matter of days the immediate ceasefire in all colonial war fronts and a swift (nay, rushed) process of decolonization and repatriation. Interestingly, Marcello Caetano, said outgoing dictator, appeared mellower than Salazar, the deceased dictator who, much like Franco, ruled the country for the better part of their regime. His first few years were even called “Marcelist Spring”, but here, too, he had to contend with the “brigada do reumático” (lit. “rheumatoid brigade”, and I think you can guess why that nickname stuck), a group of high-ranking reactionary officials that blocked any attempts at further reform and would indeed prevent even floating the idea of a peaceful resolution to said colonial war. And, in fact, there were also still a few younger officials, who weren’t outright sacked after the coup, that could’ve and indeed tried to stage a counter-coup of their own. Fortunately, they didn’t have their way and here we are now.

@IsaacKuo

9 ай бұрын

Another thing worth noting is that Teng Hui was a deep Trojan Horse. My father knew him when they were both studying abroad at Cornell. Teng Hui was always pro-TI, even if he was smart enough to keep that discrete. My father HATED HIS GUTS when he found out Teng Hui had joined the KMT, thinking he was the worst sort of traitorous turncoat. But his attitude turned around 180 degrees after seeing what he had managed to do from the inside.

@eatdawontonsoup

6 ай бұрын

Lee was just an opportunist with few weaknesses. funny how his liberalizing image in public abided with his wife always walking behind him in public instead of holding hands together. what an figure of old Chinese tradition if you ask me

@andrewyuyoungearn2799

5 ай бұрын

true@@IsaacKuo

@andrewyuyoungearn2799

5 ай бұрын

true@@eatdawontonsoup

Something similar happened in Spain. After Francisco Franco died in 1974, he was succeeded by King Juan Carlos I. The first monarch in four decades, Carlos held dictatorial powers. Instead of tyranny, he initiated democratic reforms, unprompted. Carlos even stopped a coup which would've re-established dictatorial rule.

@USSFFRU

9 ай бұрын

I believe the event that stopped the Remnants of the Francoists Coup is called the Carnation Revolution right? Where the Military backed Carlos and prevented Spain from falling back to Francoist Dictatorship or worse, Civil War and finally succeeding their transition to a Democracy.

@Nathan-jh1ho

9 ай бұрын

A slight difference being Lee Teng Hui, a Taiwan native, was appointed as sort of a compromise with the Taiwanese people, rather than a restoration of a monarch who happened to not be a tyrant. He was about the most nativist (as opposed to Mainland Chinese) KMT candidate ever. He would also win the first democratic election, partly because he was in the "middle". Also, the "old guard" in the KMT wasn't anti-democratic purely because they wanted to enforce some ideologies either. There was a strong divide and violent conflict between Taiwanese natives and Mainlanders who retreated from the mainland with the KMT. They being Chinese nationalists, wanted to remain "Chinese", and being a minority in Taiwan, they knew the natives would turn the state towards to one with an independent identity with democratization. Seeing Lee as too nativist, they splintered off and form their own parties. Which would split votes with the KMT, leading to DPP getting the presidency in 2000

@cyqry

9 ай бұрын

If I recall, didn't Franco put in motion the idea of a constitutional monarchy upon his death? So he was succeeded by King Carlos I but Carlos was obligated to bring in a democratic government as part of his return to power?

@jerm70

9 ай бұрын

@@cyqry A constitutional monarchy doesn't have to be Democratic. It just has to be bound by a constitution.

@marcogavagnin771

Ай бұрын

​@@jerm70Not to add that they were also scared of a republican "revolution" if some forms of democracy weren't introduced. Secret polls taken by Suarez's government at the time showed that after 40 years of right wing dictatorship, which toppled a democratic republic, republican sentiment was high and a majority

Taiwan is not the only country with this story. Republic of Korea has a very similar story. The military dictatorship gradually released the power in the 1990s with pressure from student groups and unions. Korea, similar to Taiwan, is an economic success story during the time of dictatorship. The path of its economic growth is also very similar to Taiwan's, during the 1970s and 1980s. It would be even more interesting to look at both at the same time in terms of lessons learned, what's similar and what's different.

@KenGold666

9 ай бұрын

and Singapore

@luiscarlospallaresascanio2374

9 ай бұрын

Are you denying the narrative of democracy=rich, dictatorship=poverty?

@Freshie55

9 ай бұрын

Taiwan and South Korea have an eerily similar modern history. Both were Japanese colonies that were then ran by military dictators. Both democratized peacefully and today are liberal democracies whom have had women presidents.

@michaellin4553

9 ай бұрын

​@@KenGold666Singapore is the exact opposite of a democracy

@Darkest_matter

9 ай бұрын

​@@luiscarlospallaresascanio2374Russia is more rich than north Korea. You could say Russia is a dictatorship.. but idk dictatorship to me is places like Israel and north Korea

As a Taiwanese person, I want to point out two disagreements I have: 1. KMT’s democratization is far from an planned, organized process. There are much more power struggle and inter party fights then this presents 2. Chiang Ching Kuo did not democratize Taiwan. He removed the martial law but his successor Li is responsible for democratize Taiwan. This is a good video but it misrepresents what happened. Chiang did not mastermind a path to democracy. He liberalized KMT and Taiwan. But it is Li who basically purged all authoritarian KMT leader from government and started real elections

@thornados4969

Жыл бұрын

It was DPP's Chen who really forced KMT to cooperate the change of the outdated KMT-RoC constitution with amendments to update according to present reality. It was almost a change of the country's name to Republic of Taiwan but the US refused to accept the change.

@martinfiedler4317

Жыл бұрын

To be fair to CCK, he did allow the establishment of the DPP, although at that time other parties were still forbidden by "law". So there are indications, that he was for democratization. But yeah, the title of "Father of Taiwan's Democracy" goes clearly to LTH!

@NeostormXLMAX

9 ай бұрын

you mean cucks that sold out taiwan to amerimutts, you realize the country is now a silon state? it relies almost entirely on tsmc and select few industries, and the united states is also backstabing taiwan by siphoning workers from taiwan to develop their own intel and amd chips so they wouldn't need tsmc anymore.

@NeostormXLMAX

9 ай бұрын

not to mention amerimutts don't recognize that the south china sea belongs to the republic of china and taiwan. and wants to give it to the Philippines going back on their word, zero reason to work with the amerimutt golems.

@masterchinese28

9 ай бұрын

Lee finished what Chiang Ching-kuo started. The '80s were where the opposition parties caught attention by fighting in the legislator, which was still full of KMT officials who couldn't be removed because they represented provinces on the mainland that the gov't was pretending to still rule. The fights seemed silly at the time, but they were representative of the struggle against the single-party system. Even having opposition parties was a new thing then. Pres. Lee pushed for presidential elections and later for the disbanding of the redundant provincial government.

The interesting thing about Taiwan is that an entirely similar story happened in South Korea. A Military Junta that was initially violent and anti-democratic that brought economic wealth to the nation and eventually began their own democratization and succeeded the greatest test a Democracy can receive, a peaceful successful first election.

@robotube7361

8 ай бұрын

Yes will billions from USA- everything is possible :D

@gabbar51ngh

8 ай бұрын

South Korea's reform is mostly influenced by USA. You see it in the kind of government they follow along with the American influenced cuisines and sports popular in South Korea now.

Note on the land reform in Taiwan: Land reform has been on KMT's mind well before they fled to Taiwan. The founder Sun Yat Sen was influenced by Georgism and Socialism, so there have been attempts at redistribution on the mainland, both before and after the war with Japan. But since power in the KMT relied heavily on landowners and capitalist, nothing substantial came out of their efforts on the mainland. When they got to Taiwan, most of the large landowners from Japan's colonial efforts had their land confiscated as public land, and the local landed gentry were not yet part of the KMT power apparatus and could be retroactively charged with 'collaboration with the Japanese' if they refused to cooperate, so things went way smoother.

This video is very informative about Taiwan's conversion to Democracy, but I would like to give more context here about the KMT's history. Originally the Kuomintang was founded under China's founding father Dr Sun Yat-sen. The reason why Sun Yat-sen is titled China's founding father because he brought a new age for China that overthrew China's multi-millennium old Dynastic rule. What he and the Kuomintang had originally set out to do was to convert China into a Democratic Republic since the old dynastic system of China was failing the nation. Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang did manage to seize mainland China but however have failed multiple times to properly establish a stable functional republic. Unfortunately, Sun Yat-sen would pass away and power would be transferred to Chiang Kai-Shek. At this point, the Kuomintang had become an Authoritarian entity which prioritized reunifying China since after Sen Yat-sen's death the country had become divided by ideology and warlords. Fast forward to modern day, Taiwan's Democracy was the one Sun Yat-Sen had sought to establish long ago in the mainland.

@bctvanw

9 ай бұрын

SYS was founded by the Soviets. SYS did come to Taiwan before. He came to gain support from Taiwanese and Japanese for his revolution. That's before he finally switched to the Soviet side in 1920s. BTW. Dr. SYS treated Taiwan/Formosa as a foreign country before he died. He even mentioned about supporting Taiwan independence in 1924 after he teamed up with the Soviets.

@WoAiTuMadre2698

9 ай бұрын

@@bctvanw SYS was educated in America. He wanted to bring Western Ideas to China but he also wanted to bring out more social reform. I would not call him really leftist. I personally think he just wanted what was best for China.

@icouldntthinkofaname379

9 ай бұрын

@@WoAiTuMadre2698 Sun yat-sen's ideas were also somewhat more idiosyncratic than I think this implies. For instance, a lot of his conceptions of freedom/democracy were "freedom for the nation," not necessarily "freedom for the individual." Arguably the two ideological tenant that survived past Sun's lifetime in the KMT's ideology was the political tutelage and land reform, lol.

@WoAiTuMadre2698

9 ай бұрын

@@icouldntthinkofaname379 I mean like I said SYS wanted what was best for the nation. His ideas were nationalistic for China. Even than what he did propose would grant the Chinese people more freedoms since it did provide limitations to government power.

@KevinWarburton-tv2iy

9 ай бұрын

He was pretty much the same as Ho Chi Minh. A Left Nationalist who turned to Socialism as a way to get USSR support in opposing Imperialism & Colonialism.

I have a lot of respect for Taiwan, there's no country in the world like it, truly an aspirational nation

@bruhtnt4258

9 ай бұрын

That would be because, it’s government. Not a country

@asdawasda

9 ай бұрын

@@bruhtnt4258 what exactly is a country then? Is it not an area ruled by its own sovereign government?

@AirLancer

9 ай бұрын

@@asdawasda It's whatever the CCP wants when they stamp their feet and get mad that people call Taiwan a country.

@zoltankiss1533

9 ай бұрын

​@@bruhtnt4258found the chinese

@ROBLOXGamingDavid

9 ай бұрын

@@asdawasdacall it a place.

I am Taiwanese, and I have to tell everyone that Taiwan has gradually become liberalized since 1980. I was a elementary school student at the time, and I couldn’t understand why other countries would say that Taiwan was “undemocratic.” At that time, in elementary schools in Taiwan, every student was learning about "democratic elections" every day, and everyone could openly talk about elections and voting without any punishment

Important to mention that the land reform was only possible because a lot of it was took from large Japanese landowners, and Taiwanese who were considered collaborators with the Japanese

@simoncejka9121

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for info. I was wondering where gov-in-exile took money for compensations.

@michaelyuan3382

10 ай бұрын

At least the original owners were Taiwanese who had been there for hundreds of years before the arrival of the KMT. With the KMT land reform, the lands were forcibly taken from the local population and given out to KMT invaders and collaborators, who previously had no legitimate claim whatsoever.

@checkdestroy

9 ай бұрын

That's how land reform *should* work. FWIW, similar things happened in Korea and Japan. Land reform was absolutely crucial to reforming the peasantry for eventual rapid industrialization. A handful of selfish Taiwanese picked the wrong side, and are still butthurt about it. If you don't like it, you can always go to Yasukuni Shrine and cry all you want.

@janusjones6519

9 ай бұрын

@@michaelyuan3382cool story bro, unfortunately international law and history, including peace treaties that ended WW2 and created the UN says they have every right to claim taiwan.

@HaloFTW55

9 ай бұрын

It also helped that the KMT took much of the national reserves when they evacuated the mainland.

People like to think that CCP vs KMT was just good guys vs bad guys but when the KMT went to Taiwan they harmed a lot of people.

as a taiwanese, thank you for answering the questions that are in my head for ages. our history books simply write it off as "a kindness from kmt", which even my 10 years old brain couldn't believe it. I bet there are lots of parties in the world transition to democracy successfully remain its power. can you make more videos about china's politics? since a lot of taiwanese or not taiwanese are so interested in the subject.

I'd say that the reason Taiwan and the KMT defy expectation is because expectations are based on fallacy. People believe that if you give a country democracy it will improve, but that isn't necessarily true, because democracy isn't inherently stable, in fact it may be inherently unstable. In order for stable democracy to grow you first need stability, and because democracy by itself does not provide that stability you need to start with something else to provide it. What you really need is a population that has forgotten about instability that has had time to get so used to and dependent on the systems of society itself that it will reject anyone trying to disrupt that stability for their own gain without even thinking about it. You need a society that has been stable for so long that people can grow up in stability and get an education and start having enough time and energy to start considering political philosophy. Because ultimately you cannot impose democracy, it needs to grow from the seed of knowledge and it needs stable soil within which to grow. This is why revolutions rarely create democracy and why imposing democracy on places like Iraq and Afghanistan hasn't worked, if we'd been willing to impose stability on those places for forty or fifty years so that the only people left who remembered what it was like before were irrelevant greybeards, we might have succeeded, though what we would have had to do to achieve that would probably not been worth it to us anyway, because we'd have had to do what the KMT did in Taiwan and we don't have the political will for that.

The KMT's early foundations in Georgism and the Land Value Tax are primarily responsible for the reduction in wealth inequality that occurred when Taiwan industrialized. I'd also argue that that very wealth equality indirectly made it easier for the KMT to willingly choose a move towards democracy. Implement the Land Value Tax in all countries now.

The ability to adapt is an underrated aspect of the strongest governments.

很感動看到有外國KZreadr紀錄台灣的民主發展歷史 What a pleasure to see there are somebody out of film the history how Taiwan’s democracy derived

@alaintremaine3302

9 ай бұрын

"I am moved to see a foreign KZreadr record the history of the development of Taiwan's democratization." When I came to Taiwan in 1994, Lee Deng-hui was the President of the R.O.C. (on Taiwan). I do recall that vote-buying was still prevalent, and the majority of the media was still state controlled. This did not disappear during the rule of the Minjindang's (DPP) Chen-Shui-bian (who would later be charged and jailed for corruption). The next president, Ma Ying-jiu was formerly a Guomindang (KMT) Minister of Justice, who had been removed from his position because he was attempting to prosecute high-level Guomindang (KMT) members for corruption - the so-called 'ill-gotten assets.' He was also the mayor of Taipei, which is seen as a crucial step to becoming president. I will not discuss the current president, since it goes beyond the range of this video. But, hey, what do I know? I still recall the time I was told by a Taiwanese woman that I could not understand politics of the R.O.C. "because I was a foreigner."

You can never trust powerful people to do the right thing, but you can (usually) trust them to do the right thing for themselves. An important lesson on how to harness man's destructive relationship with power to yield progress.

@gratain

9 ай бұрын

Though I mostly agree with you, there could be some genuinity from Mr. Chiang as he publicly declare that descendants of Chiang will never become presidents again.

Taiwan is one of those nations that I've always been interested in learning more about but haven't actually bothered to look further into, so this video was very insightful for me. It's a very unique place, even considering other nearby typically well-viewed democracies like Japan and South Korea. It's a lot more liberal than they are. Also, those graphics when you were talking about the Chinese Civil War were absolutely amazing. I couldn't get enough

I love this topic, I love it so much that I'm currently writing my senior thesis about it. You do an excellent job presenting a lot of information in an easy to consume and understand video. Great work and thanks for posting sources so I can dig in 😁

How Taiwanese ended a military Dictator's dream in their island is such an inspiration to many if not all.

Taiwan is unique because the story of the KMT is unique: A corrupt, dysfunctional dictatorship that fell to revolution, but actually got a second chance to do better, in a new place largely free from the baggage of its previous reign.

Fun fact: Chiang Ching-kuo's adopted brother, Chiang Wei-Kuo, used to be a Panzer Command in Nazi's Germany's Wermacht. He actually participated the invasion of Austria in 1938. Also, Ching-kuo's wife was Belarusian and Stalin allowed him to return back to China after 12 years living in the USSR.

As a Political Science student I gotta say this video is amazing. Not only covering the main aspects of the exceptional case of Taiwan but also mentioning the context and making it so simple to understand is incredible. Awesome work dude!

Hey! Thanks for watching. If you're interested in learning more, this is the (very good) book we consulted for much of the research, and it talks about a number of other countries: amzn.to/3Ww2cQ2 (we do earn revenue from this) Also, this comment is for corrections and may be updated over time! 1. The DPP narrowly defeated an independent candidate in the 2000 election; the KMT candidate came in third. 2. While the KMT was officially established in mainland China in the early 20th century, party founder Dr. Sun Yat-Sen had already established a number of predecessor organizations under various names and in various places outside the Chinese mainland, the first of these being the Revive China Society in Hawaii in 1884.

@henrikagestedt7835

Жыл бұрын

Surely you mean in 1884?

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

@@henrikagestedt7835 lmao fuck. yes. thank you

@BBarNavi

9 ай бұрын

These aren't the only mistakes you make in the video.

@l00k69

8 ай бұрын

KMT took charge in 1945 at the end of WWII, not 1949

Your guys' consistency & quality is inspiring. Always stoked seeing another of your vids in my feed!

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Johnny!!

I am glad to see your content improve your graphics are so amazing though honestly recent two videos are so much better and improved than your earlier videos 💕💕💕rooting for you bro

How much can the KMT's adoption of democracy be said to be just a natural embrace of the times and not a result of the inherently precarious geopolitical position Taiwan found itself in? Like they are literally a few miles away from a 1-billion strong dictatorship who hates them and their biggest ally is a democratic country that dislikes dictatorships... what kind of dictatorship would want to keep their power in that sort of situation?

@thornados4969

Жыл бұрын

As a party KMT has never initiated the change. They opposed change but was forced to do it with the pressure from the DPP. KMT's best stand is to maintain the status quo interpreted as 'no change until unification in undetermined future'. CCP-China is using KMT's stand to unify now or threat of invasion.

@joelkilchoer4238

9 ай бұрын

The U.S. had no qualms about supporting anti-communist dictatorships. To a well informed person, it would be a black mark on their reputation, but most people wouldn’t care

I arrived in Taiwan in 1996 as an exchange student. There was so much going on then and I was young, so I didn't really appreciate it or understand it at the time. My roommate told me that earlier that year when the election happened that he and some friends went to the top of a mountain so they could see the missiles being lobbed into the sea by the Miainland to try to intimidate the electors. In 1997 our class of foreign students were invited to visit with Lee Teng-hui at the Presidential Palace. That was also the year that Feb 28 became a holiday to commemorate those who died in the 2-28 massacre in 1947. In 1998 I went back to work and I was in Taipei to see the election of (future president) Ma Ying-jeo as mayor. He defeated the incumbent, (future president), Chen Shuibian. Throughout the years, I have fond memories and friends from that time. That roommate who had watched the missiles dropping in the sea later became a legislator. Elections that were a novelty in a place that had martial law for so long, became incredibly vibrant. I appreciate more and more how significant it was that this island, that was touted by Mme Chiang Kai-shek in her fund raising tours as "Free China," was finally actually transitioning into a free country during my time there.

This is actually smart. Once you lost power in a dictatorship, you almost never recover. But if you lost power in a democracy, you can just easily gain it back in 5-10 years time.

Great Video as always. Nice visuals and I remain a huge fan of the progress bar that slowly reveals the name of the chapters of the video

The title should be: "How an Ousted KMT Leader Built Democracy" That leader ousted from his own party by the loyal followers of the party dictator is Lee Teng-hui, the real person that built democracy in Taiwan.

Tbh this is what I used to believe the CCP was heading for. Gradual reforms to strengthen the party's hold, eventually leading to democratisation. Sadly it doesn't seem like that will be happening any time soon.

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

The book which served as the bulk of our research (linked in pinned comment if interested) discusses that as well. The authors have an interesting point which is that a big determining factor in the direction of a ruling party or autocrat is the signals it receives. There are two main varieties of signals - negative ones (which suggest the status quo is in trouble) and reassuring ones (which suggest reform would actually be productive). One very important type of signal is elections. They allow a ruling party, even if they are tightly regulated etc., to see how they're doing, how the people feel, how they'd fare post-transition. China lacks these. It's one reason Singapore, despite having a more competent ruling party and structure than China, is more likely to democratize successfully, sooner than China. Lots to think about! Hope you enjoyed, and give the book a look!

@2k2k2k8

Жыл бұрын

I hope the Republic of China(=taiwan) government will recapture the mainland china and unify it again. It is too bad that the territory of the liberal and powerful democratic government of the Republic of China is such a small island. If China were a democratic government, it would not have fought the United States like this now.

@leihtory7423

11 ай бұрын

@@2k2k2k8 I think PRChina will transition to Democracy when GDP per capita reaches parity with the West. If China per capita GDP reach parity with Taiwan at 35k. Half that of USA per capita GDP at 70k. Chinese total GDP economy would 2x size that of the USA.

Loved the video. Production quality is great, can't wait to see more!

Offering people a choice you subtly rig while you are in a position of power so you can deliver on promises, transition well, and have confidence in your momentum to keep influence and power is almost always a solid choice. It's the strategic right choice in a world increasingly turning away from single person/party rule and towards democracy. It's easier to manipulate a thing you helped design than it is to get killed in the street for holding power too long.

@cyqry

9 ай бұрын

People won't try to cut off your head if you make them think the power you wield was given to you by them in the first place.

Wow, this was far higher quality than I expected for a video with a few thousand views, I see big growth potential here

Thank you for the insightful documentary! This was something I didn't expect, despotism using democracy as a means of remaining in power and staying relevant. And to be honest, it's something I can respect the KMT-regime for. Their confidence in being able to remain relevant after instating elections, and using that confidence to democratise Taiwan is a mentality I would encourage. It benefits both those who desire to remain in power, and massively increases the quality of life their citizens have.

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts! Agreed!!

Another critical part of Chiang Ching-kuo, was his relationship with the people of Taiwan. Through his rule, he was able to force the ruling party to give up it's ridiculous dream of taking back the mainland - but instead focus on the development of Taiwan. Secondly, he saw that the only way to stability was to do away with the minority rule system of mainlanders in charge over the islanders. Finally he sought to end martial law, he knew that only he was able to force the KMT to giving up it's fist on power and he made sure that it was ended before he could no longer do so (he suffered from diabetes, and heart problems). He sowed the seeds of true representative democracy. The story of Chiang Ching-kuo and what he did for Taiwan and democracy strikes terror into authoritarian rule, in particular to the CCP.

@Techno_Idioto

9 ай бұрын

It's honestly amazing, and a political avenue I (as a Communist, who most people think are all USSR/China/DPRK fans, which I clearly am not) would encourage in all nations.

Hope your channel blows up, algorithm bestows as it takes away, your channel deserves 200k minimum subs as your quality is amazing, must take a lot of work.

Insane how high the production quality is for a channel this size. Bravo 👏

That 2000 election deserves looking into on its own. It's easy to overlook that the KMT was still dominant and popular, but because of its safe grip it internally fractured and in the end had a huge dispute for its presidential nomination. In the end both candidates ended up running (one left the party) and split the vote. DPP got less than 40% of the vote and still won, and it was clear afterwards that they weren't ready to govern back then (Chien later got caught with major corruption charges).

Wow, the productio quality is insane! Good job, I was really surprised when I realised that your channel has only about 6k subscribers. You deserve way more. Subbed

Fabulous for you to be able to did the research and produced this video. Even I as a Taiwanese doesn't know that much for this sophisticated dynamics within the KMT's context of democratization.

To me it always read as a case where the dictators ego didn't get in the way so when it became clear their grip on power was slipping they where able to bail in a relatively safe manner. Stepping down in favor of a representative government has a better survival rate then most other options

Excellent, detailed and accurate video. Our democracy isn't free, so we will defend them against China with our lives.

"democracy"

I am a Taiwanese who grew up during 1980s. It also puzzles me how this had come about. I think your story captures main factors correctly, it is a great job to do this in less than 15 minutes. Thanks！It is a real miracle perhaps, because these few persons in power, including Jiang, and his successor Lee, who won the first presidential election, made right decisions, and with some cunning, out-maneuvered those KMT old guard, the military.

Great video with amazing animations!

as someone aligned with pan-green camp this video seems good but somehow KMT biased. It wouldn't have hurt to talk more about conflict and resentment that native Taiwanese (benshengren) felt against the Chinese mainlanders (waishengren) and socioeconomic political system they created on island of Taiwan that left many people at the fringes of society. KMT were brutal despots responding to increased local and international pressure, it definitely wasn't goodwill, but to be fair you kinda mentioned that. Overall I appreciate your video on Taiwan.

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and we appreciate the thoughtful comment! We wouldn't characterize ourselves as pro-KMT in any way, not least because, as you note, we mention that they were not ideologically disposed towards democracy until at least the 1990s. To say the least, we *are* ideological democrats, and we would be as opposed as anyone in the pan-Green camp to their actions in the 20th century or their pro-PRC turn in the 21st. There are certainly aspects of the story that we weren't able to hit for the sake of time but are nonetheless important-perhaps we'll revisit them in a future video.

@KathyXie

Жыл бұрын

@@spectacles-dm I think you should have at least mention the Kaohsiung Incident, also how Lee Teng-hui supported the taiwanization movement and he was later expelled from the KMT.

@revolusirevolusi-jw7tn

9 ай бұрын

It's quite misleading to call benshengren as "natives" that title should only be reserved for the aborigines

@Tamamo-no-Bae

9 ай бұрын

@@revolusirevolusi-jw7tn If you lived on Taiwan for centuries, you are pretty much native. Maybe not aboriginal but that is different.

@revolusirevolusi-jw7tn

9 ай бұрын

@@Tamamo-no-Bae that's not how it works. There's a reason why white Americans aren't called native Americans even though they have been in America longer than the han Chinese benshenren have been in Taiwan

Great video!

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Such a well-crafted video essay.

Can anyone recommend books on this? I'm really curious about the transition from dictatorship to democracy

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Hey, so glad you're interested in learning more! We've got a book linked in the pinned comment that we recommend. Most of the video's research is drawn from it, but it also discusses Japan and South Korea extensively!

@pierresihite8854

Жыл бұрын

@@spectacles-dm Thank youu!!

@2k2k2k8

Жыл бұрын

I hope the Republic of China(=taiwan) government will recapture the mainland china and unify it again. It is too bad that the territory of the liberal and powerful democratic government of the Republic of China is such a small island. If China were a democratic government, it would not have fought the United States like this now.

@martinfiedler4317

Жыл бұрын

If you are interested in the early years of the ROC after WWII, I recommend "Accidental State" by Hsiao-Ting Ling.

@MimOzanTamamogullar

Жыл бұрын

@@2k2k2k8 In what ways does the People's Republic of China fight the US that you think wouldn't happen if they were a democracy?

Wasn't the KMT sun yatsen's creation? Originally republican, and then became authoritarian after his death because of the civil war?

@pierrebegley2746

9 ай бұрын

That's right yeah.

@leezhieng

3 ай бұрын

Sun Yatsen was supporting facism at his old age before his death. Chiang Kai Shek basically continuing Sun Yatsen's ideology.

China's economic rise in the last decades is based on the similarities system like in Singapore and Taiwan's economic rise in the 70' 80's.

10:29 What's the name of the background music? It sounds very familiar to me.

Great content! You should add more information for non-Taiwanese viewers in the pictures you show (like 8:59 when that is Pelosi in the middle)

The stage for democracy in Taiwan was set in 1895, rather unexpectedly. The founder of the Republic of China, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, laid out the ideas of democracy, welfare, and civic nationalism. Dr. Sun had a three step plan to achieve this, which was essentially a transition from military government to a democratic constitutional government. In 1947, the beginning of the end of the dictatorship was signed into law with a new civilian constitution. In 1950, local elections were held and contested by independent candidates, the China Democratic Socialist Party, as well as KMT candidates. The land redistribution mentioned in the video actually wasn’t a communist idea, it had been part of Sun Yat-Sen’s ideology from the start. The KMT had intended to create democracy all along, but they just did not have the circumstances to for much of the time. First, they had to deal with warlords, then they had to deal with the Japanese and the Communists. Had they held power on the mainland, they would have been able to do much the same, and probably earlier on. The KMT and the ROC were tragic heroes of this chapter of Chinese history.

@bocchium

10 ай бұрын

as a citizen of nanking (former ROC capital no less) i see remnants of kmt everywhere. saddened we couldn’t keep what Sun laid out for us. now it’s a home i could never go back to

@redcar9949

10 ай бұрын

@@bocchium our beautiful homeland has been looted and ransacked by the communist bandits.

@llaammeerr2506

10 ай бұрын

@@bocchium chinese dissident?

@justit1074

9 ай бұрын

yeah, people forget the communists were once part of the kuomintang, both parties have, and continue to worship sun yat sen, sun already had socialist alignments, and planned to implement land reforms and social welfare, i cant help but feel that this video is somewhat biased against the kmt im probably biased as well, my grandfather was a soldier in the National Revolutionary Army (military branch of the kmt, effectively the chinese army) during the 2nd sino-japanese war, Republic of China Army during and after the civil war, and eventually became a kmt member

@redcar9949

9 ай бұрын

@@justit1074 my grandfather was in the ROC Navy and fought during the Civil War. He was also somehow involved in the Korean War, although it is not clear to what extent. He eventually started a family in Taiwan.

The areas of control the KMT had were not even controlled by party members but former warlords that made an alliance with the KMT out of convince. The warlord in Xinjiang for example kept attacking communists and nationalists whenever it seemed like the Soviet Union or the Axis was winning WW2. The General in Yunnan, Long Yun, was constantly butting heads with Chiang, but he was nevertheless a warlord at heart. It was no wonder the KMT allied armies collapsed so quickly to the Communists when they had confusing orders, disagreements, and no real heart for the Kuomintang govt. To say that the Communists had enormous support of the peasants that lead them to win the war feels like an overstatement when it wasn’t just peasants that won, but disillusioned political and military leaders who felt alienated by the KMT and at a loss against the now formidably Japanese/Soviet equipped and militarily competent CCP armies. The KMT in mainland China didn’t collapse due to cronyism and corruption, it collapsed due to paranoia and mistrust within the military and govt structures of its territory. Years of assassinations by pro-KMT forces, even up to 1947 where a well renowned social democratic third party leader was killed by a reactionary KMT leader, war wariness, growing Communist support, all sowed the seeds of the KMT war effort in the Civil War. I know this video is just about the Taiwanese story of democracy and that the Civil War was only a small part of the video, but I just couldn’t help but add those facts in because it really helps explain how Taiwan’a system survived in the tiny island, versus the whole landmass of varying degrees of control of leadership allotted out of convenience not loyalty. I really appreciated seeing the helpful visuals in your videos and I think you do a good job in explaining the structures of a country’s political systems.

@scipio7994

9 ай бұрын

Hey I recognize you i like your content :)

What an interesting story! Thanks for sharing.

This is the thing that kept breaking my brain about Taiwan -- that it almost seems like one minute they were being badly run by a corrupt dictatorship, the next minute they were running under a competent, fairly representative government...glad to finally hear how it happened.

taiwan in general is a great example of how a country can thrive economically and democratic against all odds. Its a COUNTRY that is claimed by the at least second most powerful country on this world, isnt recognized by like 3/4 of the World and therefore has massive problem with trading, espeicially since its an island that is more or less required trade for many prodcuts to survive, but still its there, as an independet nation with a high standard of living and an amazing democracy despite all odds ^^

@gratain

9 ай бұрын

Taiwan is only recognized by 10+ countries in the world…. Taiwan would be very happy to be recognized by 1/4 of countries!

@funfungerman8401

9 ай бұрын

yeah true, i just looked it up years ago and saw a list that was probably from 1980-90 where a lot more countrys still recognized taiwan so i had that number vaguely in my long-term memory thanks for correcting me ^^. and honestly that just proves/reinforces the point i was trying to make ^^ @@gratain

@palmerdennis

9 ай бұрын

@@funfungerman8401 Instead of recognizing Taiwan, they recognize the Republic of China, ROC, another China.

@glutenfree7057

6 ай бұрын

Honestly Taiwan is basically it’s own country, and I pretty much see it that way. They literally have their own currency, government, elections, banks, military, airports, and passport.

another amazing video, thank you!

I love the clearly shown structure of the video! I guess we don't know the real intentions of the KMT, if it's truly acting with benevolence or self-preservation in mind. Likely it is both but it started as self-preserving and eventually became more altruistic. Another thought is global politics plays a part in the calculus to adopt democracy. What it seems like to me is; while the Empire KMT in mainland China was too big and lacked personnel to make everything happen, the large empires' assets focused on managing a significantly smaller sphere was key. It seemed like they were just able to make everything happen that they needed to. They seem like decent pragmatist which is at least something you can reason with.

Amazing video, really good conclusions and a special situation that sadly, never repeated abroad

Great video

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

As someone from the mainland. I have to say that this is an amazing video. It is straight to the point, very informative, and nicely organized. This video even gives me hope, that someday, the CCP may think to do the same… eventually.

@khanch.6807

9 ай бұрын

Unlikely. Chinese people are too weak to fight the CCP.

@JacobFraps

9 ай бұрын

They wont

@typiclyjohny5114

9 ай бұрын

since Taiwan is still the ROC, do you think if the PRC falls the Taipei Gouvernment will return to the mainland?

@smallant.

9 ай бұрын

@@typiclyjohny5114 no I don’t think so at least not immediately afterwards since the political atmosphere would be so different from Taiwans and political parties will spring up all over the country but I really hope that a new government/party would form that redeclares the country as the ROC and adopts a modified version of the ROC constitution until the country is fully stable and until the established Taiwanese parties make a return to the mainland to assist with democratization and reunification. One case scenario that I personally wish never happens is if the only the KMT returns to mainland and the current ruling party the DPP declares Taiwanese independence.

@khanch.6807

9 ай бұрын

@@typiclyjohny5114 At this point the ideological differences are too large for Taiwanese and Chinese to reintegrate with each other. Even their language changed somewhat. They are gonna end up like US and UK.

Wow as someone who researchs political science government and military history as a hobby since childhood this was the first time i learned anything on Taiwans history with the KMT And i have to say i was blown away and highly impressed with what the KMT did🎉

Great Video, very clearly presented.

informational and interesting video :)

Step 1: have a lot of really important resources or be in a key geographic position. Step 2: align yourself with the United States' geopolitics Step 3: ??? Step 4: profit

@sasho_b.

9 ай бұрын

Step 3: Neo-liberalism and McCarthy-ism

Really good video!

wonderful summary

Insanely interesting, this should have millions of views.

love it keep it up yall

I neverblame Chiang Ching-guo, Chinag Kai-shek's son. He was the one who directed the miraculous economic development that made Taiwan one of the richest countries in Asia. He had also exhorted his successor, Lee Dan-hui, to be tolerant of opposing parties and their criticism. Taiwan's economy has been receding ever since his passing. What a shame!

Wow, this was absolutely amazing to watch. Well produced and such an interesting topic.

Great content, but I felt the jokes and pop culture clips didn't really mesh with the substance of the video.

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for your feedback! We thought that a little humor can help break up a video like this and make it easier to watch, but I think a few of them didn't land as well as we'd hoped. I still hope you enjoyed the video, and thanks for watching!

@rhubarbjin

Жыл бұрын

@@JohnSmith-mc2zz That’s Woody Harrelson in the movie _Zombieland_ 😉

@2k2k2k8

Жыл бұрын

I hope the Republic of China(=taiwan) government will recapture the mainland china and unify it again. It is too bad that the territory of the liberal and powerful democratic government of the Republic of China is such a small island. If China were a democratic government, it would not have fought the United States like this now.

Something similar happened in Mexico during the same time. Mexico was officially a democratic country, with presidential elections being held every six years. However PRI, the dominant political party at that time, had been ruling the country ever since the end of the Mexican Revolution (around 1920). It was obvious that the party was keeping itself in power with corruption and by arresting or murdering the opposition. However, in the year 2000, PAN, the main opposition party at the time, won the presidential elections, becoming the first party to win the elections over the PRI. Those elections are considered the first truly democratic elections held in Mexico, and they were held with PRI still in full power of the nation. The reasons were similar. The party had lost most of the support from the citizens, and it wouldn't take long before the international community stopped supporting the openly corrupt and abusive government of the PRI. Althought, unlike what happened in Taiwan, the PRI never recovered the support or the power it used to have in the past, and its considered to be in decay ever since. The 90's was probably the decade when this type of governments stopped being tolerated by the international community, and oppresive rulers were forced to find a new more relaxed way of keeping themselves and their allies in power.

This channel boutta blow up

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

🤞🤞🤞🤞

Truly impressed with all aspects of the video. I just stumbled upon it and now subbed with all notifications. Thank you so much for the video.

I hope that Taiwan will one day be fully recognised not just by the public, but also by various governments around the world, with no claim to mainland China and with mainland China with no claim to it (After all, the only document that suggests either should have such claims, is already nearly 80 years old. Who lives and who dies in war shouldn't be decided by such old documents).

Good video. Would pass on the meme cuts though. Feels out of place and jarring.

@spectacles-dm

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback! Several others have said the same, and this is helpful for us :)

You and your work are important

Very interesting video. Great topic and fantastic pacing!

nice video, there is only one small inaccuracy, when fighting against Japan during WW2, the CCP (led my Mao) actually took advantage of the Japanese troops which decimated the KMT troops, so after Japan was defeated, they easily defeated the remaining KMT troops. While their own troops were saved from fighting. Those who really fought and gave their lives to protect the motherland were mostly KTM troops Nowadays the CCP want to portray themselves as heroes during WW2, but that wasn't the case at all.

There is zero chance this mf isn't a psyop

Wonderful video for a small channel Hope u reach ur 100k soon

Sounds very similar to Francoist Spain. But more importantly this story highlights the fact that democracy can only really be strong where the middle class is strong. When the upper class gains too much power, corruption becomes rampant. When the poor become too powerful, they follow whoever will give them bread and circuses regardless of what human rights they violate.

I wish China would improve like this.

@stealthbrandon

9 ай бұрын

I can't see that happening in china .

While the majority of this video is decently accurate, some of the information given are false or untrue. The KMT dynasty was much darker than the video's portrayed. Corruption, vote buying, killing and stealing land, and making oppositions disappear was the norm even during the coined "reinvention phase". On top of that, a good chunk of the reason why Taiwan lost US aid (and partially US diplomatic ties) was because those in power were stealing from it. Harry Truman went as far as calling Chiang a family of thieves. During Chiang Jr's time he still cracked down on democracy quite a bit. It was towards the end of his reign that he had a change of mind (and picked the pro-democracy Lee as his successor)

@huaplays6

10 ай бұрын

Thank you. Someone in the comments that actually understands the bad stuff KMT did.

@G.A.C_Preserve

9 ай бұрын

@@huaplays6 ok, now is still to talk about CCP oppression that's still happening now instead of some stuff from the past

@huaplays6

9 ай бұрын

@@G.A.C_Preserve None of it is happening is my answer. I invite you to come over here and check for yourself.

@Diamondking599

9 ай бұрын

@@huaplays6 Explain the Uyghur massacre committed by the CCP

@huaplays6

9 ай бұрын

@@Diamondking599 It's a made up narrative. Give me any "source" you got your "evidence" from and I'll prove to you why it's fake.

Great video, i had no idea about this stuff. Also how the hell do you only have 27k subs and 70´k views? very good video

Well, the truth is that it was because of a very critical event that forced the dictator Chiang to change his stance. That event was the assassination of a writer and an American citizen living in the US, who had been a long time critic of Chiang. It turned out that the assassination was not ordered by Chiang himself, but by one of his sons. But it didn’t matter. After the assassination, the US government was quite upset and somehow forced Chiang to take action to change the political system and environment in Taiwan. So that was the true reason why Chiang was willing to give up his power, and also not transferring the power to his sons.

I love this video, it shows you that the current CCP doesn't believe it can succeed. It never had its people's best interest in mind, only their own power matters to them even if they fail.

@leihtory7423

11 ай бұрын

Or the CCP is just following Taiwan. Dictatorship till GDPPP reaches western standards. Then only then transition to a democracy. Even Stouh Korea was a Dictatorship till the GDP rose to western standards.

@stevenbaksh5545

9 ай бұрын

Ok, so why did they change after Mao died? Why did they not just keep status quo like what the Kim regime in North Korea is doing today?

@JamesZheyuXu

9 ай бұрын

@@stevenbaksh5545It is a bit like how Stalin was denounced later by the USSR,in fact,China would have became North Korea if not for Mao’s son dying in Korea.The successor,Hua Guofeng,did trying to keep the Status Quo.However,he was over shadowed by Deng,who took over the military,Deng was a victim of the cultural revolution,so no wonder he wanted to end it.But Deng only wanted to reform China economically,not politically.Which led to Xi using his power to become dictator for life.

@stevenbaksh5545

9 ай бұрын

@@JamesZheyuXu Sucessful economic reform is more important than political reform the USSR tried to do both look how that turned out for them Deng truly is the father of mordern China not Mao the Chinese should count their lucky stars Mao son died in North Korea. The economy has grown alot under Xi his anti curruption has been quite sucessful and he has shown not to jump the gun when the Hong Kongers were protesting

@JamesZheyuXu

9 ай бұрын

@@stevenbaksh5545 Also,as a side note,in dictatorships,your economy is dependent on the government,this however means that if the government messes up, you can’t do anything,which is the situation now.Europeans should be counting their lucky stars that they live in democracies.Xi’s policies have been mostly disastrous and a unprecedented lack of jobs,a unwillingness to change,and the fact that the government bosses over everything and not allows you to speaking and a increase gap between the rich and the poor.These are all driving Gen Z and Alpha to more democratic change.

Love your videos, but there was a glaring mistake on this one. Industrial Revolution massively reduced inequality EVERYWHERE, including Europe and US, contrary to what the video says. It was the largest and fastest reduction in inequality within societies in history. No wonder that it did the same in Taiwan.

This was a very well presented and balanced piece on Taiwan. It's certainly a fascinating case to study. Part of the rationale was that being a democratic alternative to the mainland gave more credibility to the nation in the west. The US wasn't propping up a fascist dictatorship in opposition to communism, it was now supporting a liberal democracy. In addition to not losing all power, the KMT could also cement divergence from the CPP. The population would be less invested in sovereignty if the options were one dictatorship over another as opposed to a political system where they had a degree of influence and interest.

I'm curious as to whats up with ethnic Chinese making dictatorship successful compared to many other dictatorship we have seen. First we have Taiwan, then Singapore and now China being successful under a dictatorship.